Geeks With Guns » DOD

Crapo: Lift Limits On Importing Collectible Guns

donttreadonme — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 02:58:41 +0000

Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo is backing a new plan supported by the National Rifle Association that would remove limits on importing antique or collectible weapons into the United States.

Read Crapo’s news release below.

Crapo Co-Sponsors Firearms Import Bill
NRA supports lifting restrictions on older, collectible and antique imports

Idaho Senator Mike Crapo has co-sponsored bipartisan legislation regarding the import of collectible and antique firearms into the United States. “The Collectible Firearms Protection Act” would allow the import of curio or relic firearms by a licensed importer without the paperwork required by the U.S. Department of Defense. Crapo joins Senators Jon Tester (D-Montana), Max Baucus (D-Montana), Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming), James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Jean Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) and Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) in co-sponsoring the legislation. The legislation has the support of the National Rifle Association.

“Second Amendment rights clearly apply to Idahoans and all Americans seeking to import antique firearms,” Crapo said. “A recent case involving the proposed sale of surplus rifles from South Korea to qualified U.S. buyers was unnecessarily delayed by federal authorities. This bipartisan bill makes it clear that firearms more than 50 years old and considered antiques or relics can be re-imported and sold to law-abiding Americans.”-[source]

‘Apps for Army’ competition proves ‘win’ for Android

HGIC — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:56:02 +0000

The U.S. military has been making a strong push lately into building on top of existing systems like the Android OS in order to increase capabilities while keeping costs low. The Army recently wrapped up its “Apps for Army” competition in which Army soldiers and civilians were asked to create apps that were of use to the Army. The contest wound up involving 141 programmers split among 53 apps.

Of particular interest to Android users is the fact that 10 of the 15 winning apps were running on Android, with the remaining five written for the iPhone. One of the top Android winners was written by two Army Corps of Engineers members and was designed to help the Army organize and spread critical information using Google Maps and Earth during disaster relief efforts. The pair chose Android as their platform of choice because it was “more flexible to use” than the iPhone’s development environment.

The Army officer in charge of the competition, Lt. Gen. Jeff Sorenson, commented that the other service branches were looking into similar competitions as well. He also said that “as soon as next year” the Army would consider getting iPhones and Android devices into the hands of deployed soldiers.

DOD CAC holders should be able to pick up the apps here.

Thanks to you-know-who-you-are for the tip!!! [Government Computer News] – [source]

Firearm Scope Use By Military Contain Bible Verses

HGIC — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:48:28 +0000

A Michigan-based company that manufactures scopes for firearms is under scrutiny because a report has found that it includes New Testament verses in its products, some of which are used by the U.S. military.

According to ABC, Trijicon has contracts with the Defense Department, including a $660 million multi-year contract to provide 800,000 optical sighting devices to the Marine Corps. The sights contain Bible verses that include JN8:12, which refers to John 8:12, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

The devices from the company are used by American troops in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as to train Afghan soldiers ahead of the scheduled troop drawdown in 2011. According to details of one $33 million contract approved last year by the Defense Department, Trijicon is supplying the Marine Corps. with a device, called M240B medium machine gun day optic, that helps a machine gunner recognize and identify a target.

The U.S. military prohibits proselytizing of any faith in Afghanistan or Iraq, according to ABC. The Army and the Marine Corps said in the report that they were unaware of the Bible codes.

“There is no separation of church and state issue here. The company can put whatever they want to on their product. The government is free to buy, or not buy the product as is.”

The company told ABC that the New Testament codes are included in the scopes being sold to the U.S. military, and that concerns about the verses were being raised by a group that is not Christian. – [source]